Prelude
by ladyanaconda
Summary: During the first two weeks of Marigold's life, Xibalba refused to even look at her, isolating himself from everything and drowning in his own pain. However, it is up to his servants to make him change his mind about his daughter, the only thing he'll ever have left of his beloved wife. Angst with happy (or rather, bittersweet) ending.


Emilio and the others knew something very bad had happened when Xibalba returned to the castle, accompanied by the Candlemaker, who was holding their master's newborn daughter. La Muerte was nowhere to be seen, but when they inquired about her Xibalba nearly turned them to dust, before he isolated himself in his study. They had set up the child's cradle in Xibalba's chambers, but Xibalba spent all evening in his study and refused to set a foot outside. That's when the Candlemaker finally told them what had happened.

At first they could not believe what they heard, they could not believe that La Muerte didn't survive childbirth, but they understood why their Lord was so angry and touchy right now. The Candlemaker sadly told them Xibalba didn't want anything to do with his daughter because of what happened, but they assured him they'd look after the baby. After he left, they were left alone with the child.

"Awww, she's a cutie!" Roberto awed, glancing down at the baby with puppy eyes and tickling at her nose with a claw, hoping to make her smile. "Coochie-coochie!"

"I can't believe Lord Xibalba doesn't want her! She's simply beautiful!" Luis added, staring down at the little one. "What was her name, again?"

"Well, the Candlemaker said Lady La Muerte named her Marigold." Emilio replied.

Lorenzo nodded his head. "Eyup."

Regina was lost in thought, fidgeting with her tail worriedly. "I'm worried about Lord Xibalba…"

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." Roberto retorted, managing to make Marigold let out a gurgle that almost sounded like a giggle.

"Am I the only one who's taking that seriously?" Regina crossed her arms. "Have you even thought on how he's going to treat Marigold when she grows up? I think he's going a little overboard, we all know he loved La Muerte with all his heart but it doesn't give him the right to blame a poor child for her death! Their child!"

"Try to put yourself in his place, Regina…" Emilio told her gently. "His wife just died giving birth to their daughter, he's sore and grieving right now, but I'm certain he'll accept the baby in a few days."

Lorenzo nodded. "Eyup."

"I hope you're right, Emy…" Roberto gulped, perking up his fins. "Because he's coming."

Just at that moment, the doors pushed open and Xibalba came in, his eyes were bloodshot and even from a few steps away his servants could smell alcohol coming from him. He had apparently spent all his time in his study drinking his sorrow away, but not enough to make him lose his sanity temporally. "How's she doing?" he asked dryly and in a raspy voice that, were the circumstances different, would have made his servants think he was being funny.

"F-Fine, My Lord…" Emilio replied, stuttering and struggling to find a word as always.

"Good." His back was straight, and he was clutching on his staff tightly. He didn't go an inch closer to the cradle. "Make sure she's well attended. Keep an eye on her at all times, and give her whatever she needs." They could sense the hurt and sorrow in his voice.

"What about you, My Lord?" Luis inquired. "Is there anything you need?"

Xibalba narrowed his eyes at Luis, clenching his fist and his hold on his staff, while the feathers on his wings bristled. Emilio swore his eyes were glistening, but he didn't get to get a closer look, for suddenly Marigold started to cry, like she sensed the tense air around them. Xibalba turned his back and started to walk away.

"Check on her." was the only thing he said before leaving the room.

Regina shook her head sadly and took Marigold in her arms, bouncing her gently. "There, there, _pequeña_."

"What's wrong with the baby?" Luis inquired.

"Well, there are three options." Roberto stated. "The first, she's hungry. The second, she's tired. And the third… Well, you know."

"How will we know which one of those is?"

Lorenzo sniffed the air, and felt an awful smell coming from somewhere. He pointed at Marigold's diaper.

"Oh, no." Roberto gulped.

"First we should make sure that's where the smell comes from, it could be something else." Emilio stated.

"And how do you suggest we do that, genius?"

Regina rolled her eyes and started patting the baby's back, just between her wings. "How do you think?"

Emilio took Marigold from Regina's arms carefully, and held it out. "Who wants to take a peek?"

"Oh, no!"

"I'm not getting my nose an inch near that!"

"Don't be disgusting!"

"Nope!"

Groaning, Emilio glanced at Juarez. "Juarez, would you mind smelling it so we can discard the diaper option?"

Shrugging, said lizard sniffed the diaper. "It's not that bad."

"What?" driven by curiosity, Roberto approached and sniffed the diaper, but he gagged and nearly fainted when a terrible smell overcame his nostrils. "Gas chamber! I need air!"

"Don't exaggerate!"

"Exxagerate!" Roberto snapped at Juarez. "That smell nearly killed me! Maybe you don't find it as disgusting because you're used to the smell of Medianoche's excrement!"

"Come on, Roberto! It can't be that bad!" Emilio took a sniff of the diaper, and froze in place.

"Emilio?" Luis called his name.

No reply.

"Yuju? Earth to Emy?" Roberto poked his friend's arm, but again there was no reply. "Emy, you're freaking us out."

Lorenzo stepped forward and took Marigold from Emilio's hands; when he no longer felt Marigold's weight on his hands, Emilio fainted.

Five minutes later, after changing her diaper with some difficulty (and awakening Emilio), Regina placed Marigold back into the cradle just as the little one let out a yawn, and her eyelids started to close just as the lizard swayed the cradle, lulling her to sleep. Emilio was still quite dizzy over the smell, but other than that he seemed just fine.

"What were you saying?" Roberto crossed his arms.

"Forget about it, would you? We have to think on what to do." Emilio growled, rubbing his head.

"What to do? Obviously, we have to take care of the baby." Luis retorted.

"I know that, I'm talking about Lord Xibalba."

"I don't think we should pester him right now, in case you forgot he gave us a death glare when we asked him how he was."

"Eyup." Lorenzo nodded his head.

"I have to agree with Luis on that." Regina said, covering Marigold with a blanket, careful not to wake her up. "He's in the denial phase of grieving, we shouldn't talk about Lady La Muerte in front of him while it lasts, at least until he's done with the process."

"Process?" Roberto inquired.

"The grieving process." Emilio caught his confused expression. "You don't know what the grieving process is, do you?"

"Uhhh."

"It's the response to a loss of someone you hold dear. Regina is right, we better be wary with our words if we don't want him to throw attacks at us."

And hope he'd get over the denial phase soon. La Muerte gone or not, Xibalba had a daughter to look after.

* * *

A week had passed, and the Lord of the Land of the Forgotten showed no signs of recovery. He had already gone into the second phase. He spent the days either in his study immersed in his paperwork, or drinking until the maddening effects of alcohol took over him, anything to try and not think that La Muerte was dead, but it was completely impossible. Every single moment he thought of her, of her hair, her beautiful eyes, her warm touch, her loving smile and heavenly voice, and it hurt him even more. When he returned to his senses, the bottled up pain broke out and broke his heart even more.

Emilio and the others watched him suffering, equally sad, for their master's pain. He brought back La Muerte's body from Aztlan after the funerary rites had been made, stubbornly refusing to part with it; in fact, he used a room to make some sort of 'altar' to her, with her body on top of a pedestal, surrounded by beautiful flowers, candles and red walls. The body was dressed in a white gown, and her hair was adorned with flowers. During his drunken hours, Xibalba would go inside the sanctuary and talk to his wife's body, before bursting out in tears of despair.

But the one they were sad about the most was about little Marigold. In this time, the Lizards had to take care of her, feed her, change her diaper and entertain her, and so they had gotten quite attached to her. Xibalba had not gone to see her _once_ , he didn't even go into his chambers. No, he slept in his throne or the couch of the castle's main hall. Marigold cried often, she didn't understand why her parents were not around, it scared her.

By the time other four days passed, the dark god passed into the third stage, despair. While he no longer drank to the point of madness, he grew depressed and bitter, still refusing to see his child. He barely had the strength to go on, he wished he would die and join his beloved wife in death, but that would never happen. Now wherever he thought of her, he couldn't bear the pain and sorrow and he'd cry bitterly. Xibalba barely ate, and he isolated himself from the other gods; the Candlemaker had gone to see him, and it ended up with the wax deity having to cover himself from the sharp feathers thrown at him.

Finally, Regina decided to do something about it. She had seen enough, despite the other lizards' attempts to stop her, she stomped her way to the throne room, where he probably was. Indeed, Xibalba was sitting down on his throne, holding an uncorked bottle of _tequila_ in one hand; his wings drooped to the ground, hunched over.

"My Lord." Regina called to him, giving him the respectful bow.

Xibalba didn't look at her. "What do you want?" he spoke with a raspy voice, taking another gulp from the bottle.

"You have not gone to see your daughter."

"Don't call her that."

"That's what she is. She's your child, whether you want to see it or not."

"She's nothing more than a killer."

Regina's temper flared up. "Do not call her that!"

"In case you forgot, my wife is gone because of her."

"Stop acting like a spoiled brat! You think you're the only one that misses her?! That child doesn't understand why her mother is not around, and instead of being there for here you're acting selfishly!"

"What does she know?" Xibalba hissed, his grip on the arm of his throne tightening, almost to the point of breaking it. "She didn't know her like I did. She didn't know her at all."

"I can't believe it…" Regina shook her head, crossing her arms. "What would La Muerte say if she could see you now?"

"She can't see anything…" his voice was shaking with pain and sorrow at the reminder. "She's dead…"

"If you hate the child so much, why don't you just throw her in the lava pit and be done with it?!"

No reply.

"Because you know that she's not to blame for what happened! You're selfishly accusing an innocent for something that couldn't have been avoided! You say you loved La Muerte, but you're neglecting her last gift for you! In fact, I'm starting to doubt of your love for her-!"

Those words stung him harshly. Xibalba flew from his throne and grabbed Regina by the neck, lifting her up and glaring into her. She was not scared, however, not even when his pupils rotated forward. His eyes were bloodshot and teary, his teeth turned into pointy triangles as he hissed like a serpent. "Repeat that, if you dare!" he roared. If there was something he had never tolerated it was someone daring to put in doubt his love for his beloved wife.

"She'd be disappointed in you." Regina continued, choking, but she glared at the dark god, forgetting for one moment he was her master. "The Candlemaker told us what her last request was, and look at you. Have you even bothered to go see her? You have not, you have not seen how much alike she is to her mother, your _wife_. She even has your wings and your eyes, but you have not seen them because your selfishness is stronger than the fatherly love you should feel towards her. You're acting like your father."

That was it. Xibalba froze, in his shock and horror he dropped the female lizard back to the ground. Those words were especially hurtful to him, especially since he had promised himself he would never be like his father.

"Did you like the way he treated you? Did you like how he never acknowledged you? How he neglected you? Is that what you want to become?"

No reply.

"Think about it, would you? There's a child that needs you here, but if you want to become just like your father and blame her for something that she didn't mean to cause, be my guest." With nothing more to say, Regina walked out of the throne room, though her mask of indifference started to soften when she closed the door behind her. She didn't like to be that hard with her master, but it had to be done. It became worse when she heard the inhuman scream of angst and sorrow that escape Xibalba's throat, which she swore could be heard in the whole realm, followed by the sound of claws slashing away through stone and obsidian.

* * *

Four days later, Emilio was awakened by Marigold's cries, at one A.M. As he threw his covers off him, he muttered something under his breath as he walked out of the servants' quarters and made his way towards his master's chambers, all the way in the highest levels of the castle. It was very tiring, especially since he would have to soothe the child down, figure out what she wanted, fix it, and then go back down to sleep. Still, he had grown so attached to her that he didn't really mind.

But having had to repair the throne room after (thanks to Regina's 'sermons' to Lord Xibalba) their master completely destroyed it in a fit of anger and grief. He wasn't certain of what Regina had told him, but whatever it was, he guessed it was something very touchy for him.

As he neared the doors of his master's sleeping quarters, Emilio realized something. He no longer heard Marigold crying. Alarmed, he quickened his step and was about to open the door when his fins twitched at another sound coming from the inside.

Was it his imagination, or was Xibalba inside?

The door was locked, but he could take a peek through the keyhole, his master would never know. He wanted to make sure the baby was okay. Gulping, Emilio took a peek through the keyhole, and his eye widened in surprise.

Marigold was safely, warmly cradled in her father's arms, her tiny fingers wrapping around his larger ones. Xibalba was playfully fidgeting with her locks of hair, soon he was tickling at her nose with his finger, smiling when she gurgled in delight. "Who's a good baby? Yes, you are. Yes, you are." Marigold started suckling on her finger, and snuggled deeply into her father's embrace.

Figuring out she was hungry, Xibalba snapped his fingers and summoned a baby bottle with warm _horchata_ out of thin air. He lowered the tip of the teat to his daughter's lips, and she quickly latched on, suckling the sweet life-giving milk. Smiling, the dark god sat down on his rocking chair and swayed it gently with his wings, watching as his little Marigold continued with her meal, struggling to stay awake; the swaying of the rocking chair, the sound of her father's heartbeat, his smoky scent of tar and the warmth of his embrace was lulling her back to sleep. Xibalba saw how she was about to fall asleep, and finished with a lullaby.

 **Baby mine, don't you cry**

 **Baby mine, dry your eyes**

 **Rest your head close to my heart**

 **Never to part, baby of mine.**

Emilio watched as soon Marigold released the teat of the now-empty bottle and let out a small yawn before snuggling deeply into her father's embrace, burying her face into his chest. Xibalba smiled as he planted a small kiss on her cheek.

" _Que sueñes con los angelitos, mi florecita_."

Emilio smiled lightly, stepping away from the door and returning down the hall, back to sleep, listening as his master's soft voice continued to sing a lullaby for the little one, lulling her into her own little dreamworld.


End file.
